Lies and Weddings

Almost all of the characters in the novel initially appear to be extremely wealthy, but although the Gresham family members live in an English manor house, are almost always impeccably dressed, attend elite schools, and mingle exclusively with those from a similarly elite class, Francis Gresham has repeatedly taken out loans to keep the estate afloat and finance his wife’s business interests, leaving the family in dire straits. As the narrative states, this life of excess has led to a situation in which, “behind all the magazine features and Instagram stories of the glamorous Greshams, luxuriating in couture at their swoon-worthy manor, glistening with golden tans aboard their antique black-sailed yacht, rose a gargantuan mountain of debt” (151). Ironically, the need to maintain the façade of wealth perpetuates the family’s cycle of debt because they are limited in their ability to change their lifestyle. The younger generation cannot even fathom what a more modest life would look like, and the family becomes more and more deeply mired in debt as they seek to uphold the illusion of limitless wealth.

Notably, the Gresham family is not the only wealthy family that projects the illusion of wealth while struggling with debt.